Lantern Sister is still very capable.

"One two one, one two one -"

Before Chu Deng even stepped into Jin Xiaoyue, her unusually energetic and spirited slogan rang out. A thought flashed through Chu Deng's mind, and the corners of her mouth unconsciously turned up slightly.

Jin Xiaoyue had initially spotted a figure from afar and cautiously pressed herself against the wall, switching from running to walking. Now, nearly two hours had passed since the exam began, and many of the people she encountered were busy finding and attaching cards to gain points or attaching others' deduction cards. Fewer people were honestly running laps.

When Chu Deng walked up to her, Jin Xiaoyue smiled happily, "Dengdeng, you've finally come to find me!"

Knowing that running around aimlessly was less effective than waiting for Chu Deng to come looking for her, Jin Xiaoyue did just what she had told Lin Jingqiong: she kept running laps back and forth along the straight road facing half of Gate 8.

Chu Deng didn't waste any words. He pulled out a stack of bonus cards from his waist and handed them to Jin Xiaoyue: "Have you calculated your points? I got some. You can add these first."

Jin Xiaoyue paused noticeably for a moment, then looked at her friend with emotion and pounced on Chu Deng like a tiger descending a mountain.

What could Chu Deng do? Holding the bonus card in her hand, she opened her arms and hugged the sweaty Jin Xiaoyue, listening to Jin Xiaoyue humming and talking to her.

"Waaaaah, Dengdeng, my Dengdeng, you're my best friend, waaaaah, what will I do without you? We must stay together forever..."

Chu Deng gently patted Jin Xiaoyue's back with her free hand, her whole demeanor relaxed. She smiled and ruffled Jin Xiaoyue's hair.

After Jin Xiaoyue got out of Chu Deng's arms with red eyes, she looked at the bonus card in Chu Deng's hand, took it with a mix of hesitation and composure, and said to Chu Deng, "Turn around."

Chu Deng glanced at her twice, then turned around and obediently faced away from Jin Xiaoyue.

“I’ve been running around for a long time, and I was afraid of holding you back…” Jin Xiaoyue’s voice was low and nasal, but full of confidence. “I’ve worked hard, so you don’t have to worry.”

She had barely finished speaking when a "beep" sounded.

Chu Deng closed her eyes and smiled silently.

The beeping sounds rang out one after another. In less than a minute, Jin Xiaoyue stuck the fifteen bonus cards that Chu Deng had brought onto Chu Deng himself.

Chu Deng turned around.

Jin Xiaoyue didn't dare to meet Chu Deng's gaze, staring at the ground as she asked, "Will you blame me for being ungrateful?"

Jin Xiaoyue, with her red eyes, looked like a rabbit. Chu Deng reached out and covered her eyes. "No, I'll like you even more."

Jin Xiaoyue felt the warmth from Chu Deng's palm and choked out a soft "Mmm".

"Click——"

"Ouch, ouch, ouch! I told you to put it on, I told you to put it on, but don't twist my arm, Pei Shen!" The tall and strong Ji Weilu immediately admitted defeat, his wrist twitching uncontrollably as Pei Hanxing grabbed him.

"Damn, you went that far, buddy?" Meng Qiuhe was startled and started to recall when the two of them had become enemies. He then realized that his friend was usually an orphan and didn't make enemies with others. So he turned his attention to Ji Weilu: "Tell me, when did you mess with my Xingzai?"

Ji Weilu couldn't figure it out no matter how hard he tried. The culprit was Jin Xiaoyue, who was separated from them by two thick walls. In addition, he was unlucky to have fallen into Pei Hanxing's hands after his previous attack on Chu Deng.

Pei Hanxing let go of his hand, turned around, and left this place of heartbreak.

"Aren't you leaving yet? I'll let you off the hook since you're so unlucky." Meng Qiuhe said after automatically making amends, then ran after Pei Hanxing, "Xing! Are you in such a hurry to be reborn? Wait for me!"

It would have been better if Meng Qiuhe hadn't brought it up; the moment he mentioned reincarnation, Pei Hanxing felt like she wanted to die.

Pei Hanxing rarely showed his emotions, so Meng Qiuhe assumed he was anxious about his grades and laughed at him for being such a top student.

"Look at you, why are you in such a hurry all of a sudden? There's no use in being anxious. It's okay, one physical fitness score won't affect your college entrance exam results," Meng Qiuhe comforted him.

Pei Hanxing glanced at Meng Qiuhe speechlessly, not wanting to talk to this friend who didn't understand his feelings, and started running laps in silence.

"Not going to post anymore? You just posted about a dozen people's photos, and I haven't even had my fill of posting photos of people yet!" Meng Qiuhe scratched his head. "By the way, do they have a grudge against you?"

"No, I just don't like them."

They had no grudge against Pei Hanxing. It was just that their phone number was exposed when they were ambushed and killed, so Pei Hanxing disliked them and wanted to give them a negative point whenever they bumped into them.

Meng Qiuhe accepted the explanation, but before he could say anything, the loudspeaker startled him so much that he forgot what he wanted to say.

"Announcement: Candidate No. 51 has achieved a perfect score. There are 10 minutes left in the exam. Please hurry, as the scoring will automatically stop after 10 minutes."

The broadcast was repeated three times before it was turned off.

Meng Qiuhe and Pei Hanxing locked eyes, then simultaneously pulled out bonus cards hidden in their training uniforms and began to accumulate points in the last ten minutes, sticking them on as they ran, adding as many points as they could.

"Luckily you suggested running laps to earn points first. I didn't expect someone to get a perfect score so quickly. But I estimate our scores will be at most fifty, which isn't very safe," Meng Qiuhe said.

“A large portion of them are around 20 points. If there aren’t many people accumulating cards, around 50 points is enough to enter Group A and start the second wave of training,” Pei Hanxing speculated.

Meng Qiuhe looked completely bewildered: "What Group A?"

Pei Hanxing realized that she had revealed something in advance, but she didn't hide it from her friend. She explained as she ran, "Instructor Huo told me that the final results of this exam will be divided into two groups. The group with the higher scores will enter Group A, and the other group will enter Group B. The two groups will train separately, with different content and different difficulty levels in the second stage of the exam."

"What about the four of us from before?" Meng Qiuhe thought of the four people whose exams were delayed by thirty minutes.

“No matter what our scores are, we’ll all be in Group A. It just will affect our physical fitness scores, which is why Instructor Huo told me this in advance.” Pei Hanxing confirmed Meng Qiuhe’s guess.

"Then what's the point of us running? We've already been decided." Meng Qiuhe instantly lost his fighting spirit, and his pace gradually slowed down.

"Because it's a way to lose more gracefully," Pei Hanxing said calmly, ignoring Meng Qiuhe as he continued running.

Even though he was pre-selected for Group A, Pei Hanxing's pride wouldn't allow him to just give up. He would prove that his strength was enough to get into Group A.

and--

A figure flashed through Pei Hanxing's mind.

Chu Deng...

He wanted to be closer to her.

Even just the name when ranking.

Chu Deng, who was being nagged, rubbed his slightly itchy ears and ran laps with Jin Xiaoyue on his back.

Jin Xiaoyue chuckled, "Can running like this still count towards my score? Am I cheating in a roundabout way?"

"Hmm, it's not cheating, it's just 'making it harder' for me." Chu Deng imitated the tone of the word that Instructor Huo often used to say to her during training, which made Jin Xiaoyue laugh out loud.

Ten minutes passed quickly. Chu Deng led Jin Xiaoyue around several times before finally standing next to the nearest gate, number 1.

"Announcement: The exam is over. All candidates, please exit the exam room in an orderly manner through the nearest gate and assemble at the main gate. Exam results will be sent to your email addresses tonight. That's all."